This invention relates to a device for cleaning contact lenses, more particularly to a device which makes use of a more efficient cleaning method.
A conventional contact lenses cleaning device is shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B. A gear mechanism A is used to rotate a transverse lever arm B. A pair of contact lens containers C, D are rotatably hinged to opposite ends of the transverse lever arm B. In the cleansing process, the contact lenses are placed inside the lens containers C, D before the lever arm B and the lens containers C, D are submerged into a container E filled with contact lens cleaning solution. The lens containers C, D have perforations C1, D1 to allow circulation of the cleansing solution in and out of the same. The gear mechanism A rotates the lever arm and the lens containers C, D in an alternating clockwise and counter clockwise direction to agitate the cleansing solution and thus rinse the contact lenses. The main drawbacks of the conventional cleaning device are as follows:
(1) The agitation of the cleansing liquid is caused by the alternating movement of the lever arm B and the lens containers C, D. Since the gear mechanism A is driven by a small motor, not enough agitation is caused to the cleansing liquid to effectively rinse the contact lenses.
(2) Referring to FIG. 1C, as the lever arm B rotates in the container E, only the side of the contact lens F adjacent to the perforations C1, D1 is actually rinsed. Thus, no effective rinsing of the contact lenses is accomplished.